Jerusalem, Mar 3 (AP) Mourners in Israel attended the last of the funerals for eight of the hostages whose bodies were returned from Gaza during the first phase of the ceasefire.

Crowds lined the long route of the funeral procession for Itzhak Elgarat, who was 68 when he was abducted by Hamas militants from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.

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Israel has said that Elgarat was killed in captivity but the circumstances surrounding his death are not known. His brother, Danny Elgarat, told mourners at the funeral that in their last phone conversation, on Oct. 7, 2023, his brother had said to him, “Danny, this is the end.”

“Unfortunately you were right,” Danny Elgarat said in the eulogy for his brother. “We fought with all our might to prove you wrong. We failed. We didn't do enough.”

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A prominent and outspoken figure in the public struggle for the release of the hostages, Danny Elgarat also railed against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to bring back his brother alive.

“The enemy who caused your death was not the one who abducted you but the one who abandoned you,” he said.

“You managed to survive the kidnapping, the kidnappers, and the injury for many months, and in the end, did not survive your own prime minister's torpedoing (of the hostage deal) and abandonment. “ (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)